Of Drinks and Friendship
by Useless19
Summary: 50 sentences about the friendship between Barry, Len, and Al the bartender. Spoilers for New 52 Flash issue #11.


**Of Drinks and Friendship** - _50 sentences about the friendship between Barry, Len, and Al the bartender. Spoilers for New 52 Flash issue #11._

AN: _Sentence selection linked in my profile, though I possibly abused the poor semi-colon and bracketing to manage it. For those who don't know, Al is the name Barry picks to be his new bartending persona in Keystone City. I'm not expecting this to be canon at all (though I have an inkling that someone's going to find out about Barry really being a cop), so just for fun._

* * *

01 - Ring  
Barry's surprised that Cold (_Len_, got to call him Len or everything will fall down) never really notices the Flash insignia on his ring, but then Len's very good at not observing what he doesn't want to see.

02 - Hero  
He'd have to be a much more twisted supervillain to say that the Flash isn't a hero, that said, no one feels like a hero when they're punching you in the face.

03 - Memory  
Barry still remembers the first time he fought Cold – how could he not? It was the first time he'd appreciated that there were things out there that could _slow him down_ – terrifying and exhilarating all at once, Barry can still picture the exact same look mirrored on Cold's face when they fought.

04 - Box  
Barry learnt the hard way that the packages Trickster passed on through the barstaff to the other Rogues were dangerous; Len had laughed when he picked up a tampered box and saw Barry cradling an injured hand.

05 - Run  
Barry has to run, has to or the world's in danger; somehow, when he's talking to Len over the bar, he feels that the other man understands the _need_ without the _want_.

06 - Hurricane  
When Mardon sets a hurricane on the Gem Cities, Len is (almost) glad that the Flash takes care of it, since his new powers still give him trouble in the rain.

07 - Wings  
Flash isn't one of the superheroes who can fly, though he can make a facsimile of it through various whirlwinds and gravity-defying ramp-launches, however, it's only he faces villains that _can_ fly that he feels the lack (and shouldn't be as grateful that he is that Cold's as ground-bound as he is).

08 - Cold  
It's his name, his demeanour, his weapon, _Cold_, yet Barry hasn't met anyone else who can get so ferociously passionate when they fight.

09 - Red  
Red's always been a sign of danger, a sign that shit's about to go down; when Al puts down a drink that's the exact same colour as Flash's uniform only two days after Len found out who was really under the cowl, Len's automatic response is to freeze it (it doesn't work and Al just grins when Len glares at him – at least it's better than _pink_).

10 - Drink  
When Len first meets Al the guy knows how to fix a drink that won't freeze in Len's hands; that over anything else that happens during their first meeting is what makes Len decide to keep an eye on the guy.

11 - Midnight  
On weeknights, midnight is when Barry has to ring the bell for last orders, he nearly always has to prod Len to make him order something then instead of trying to ten minutes later when Barry's shut down the bar.

12 - Temptation  
When things are good between them (mostly when Len's had a few drinks and Barry doesn't have any urgent business to take care of), it's tempting to just blurt out that he's the Flash, just to see how Len would react; Barry holds his tongue, though it's starting to be because he doesn't want to see the betrayal on Len's face rather than for the usual reasons.

13 - View  
Even Flash can appreciate the view that Cold's powers leave when he's not hell-bent on massive property damage, when they fight at night it can make the Gem Cities look like somewhere else entirely.

14 - Music  
When the Pied Piper gets involved with one of Flash and Len's – Cold, it's _Cold_ when the cowl's on – fights, turning it into a hectic three-way, Barry shouldn't be as grateful as he is that Cold's cold aura distorts sound as well as making Flash sluggish; it gets him a few more punches than he would've liked, but it also gives him time to clear his head and _think_ after the Piper's music stops affecting him.

15 - Silk  
The Flash uniform was softer than it looked, Barry had gotten used to to the surprise on peoples' faces when they shook hands or grabbed his shoulder; the first time Cold had caught him with a glancing blow the rest of the fight had turned into a taunting argument over clothing choices ("Who fights in silk pyjamas?" "Well at least I don't look like I murdered half the Arctic!") that Barry still cringed at remembering to this day.

16 - Cover  
The TV in the bar (one that Len paid for and is better than the old piece of shit, but not by much) covers a live fight between the Justice League and some intergalactic alien invasion and, for the first time, Len finds himself rooting for the heroes; not because he wants the enemy to lose (though that's always been a consideration, Len doesn't want to be an alien slave any more than the next sane man), but because he wants the Flash (his friend) to win this fight.

17 - Promise  
"Promise me, Cold, _Len_, promise me you won't use this against the people I care about," Flash (Barry, _Al_) begs with his cowl in tatters.

18 - Dream  
Flash's dream is obvious: peace in the Gem Cities... except, as Al points out to Len one day, peace means that Flash doesn't have a reason to run.

19 - Candle  
In the end it looks like a measly candle is what's going to cause the end of the Flash (a burning building caused when the candle was left unattended by the curtains), he runs through the flames looking for survivors and makes a misstep through weakened floorboards, a beam falls from the ceiling at the same time and Flash collapses with the building.

20 - Talent  
Len's been trying to control his powers for as long as he's had them, but he never really got help until Al started lining up shot glasses full of water and making Len freeze one while leaving the others alone; it's a small talent to claim, but Len's glad someone's helping him develop his powers.

21 - Silence  
Whenever it looks like Flash has gone down, there's always a moment of silence from the city the next day, about half the time Flash interrupts it to take out the gloating villain of the week, but it's still tradition; what Len's surprised at is that when the city thought _him_ dead, Al held a moment of silence for him at the Saloon (which Len got to interrupt), it's still strange to think he's got a friend who's _good_ enough to do things like that.

22 - Journey  
The journey from the Keystone Saloon to Barry's apartment (a tiny, two room place) is nice enough during the day, but when he's walking there during the wee hours of the morning it can get dangerous; which is why Barry doesn't mind that Len heads the same way for the first two blocks.

23 - Fire  
Despite popular opinion, Len's never really had a problem with fire; it's only when his core body temperature plummets twenty degrees that open flames really begin to bother him, Al realises this and Len's surprised at how much the other man goes out of his way to keep the flames away.

24 - Strength  
Neither will tell the other, but they see each other as the strongest hero/villain they know; not because they're necessarily the most capable at what they do, but because they have the strength to stick to their convictions and keep this game going forever.

25 - Mask  
Len should've seen it earlier, but then Flash's mask is made up of more than the crimson cowl.

26 - Ice  
Barry leans over to Cold – _Len_ – and without really thinking gives him a bucket with a "we're out of ice... could you?" Len gives him a hard look, but obligingly ices up the bucket and tosses it (slightly too hard) at Barry's head.

27 - Fall  
It's stupid, but when the ground drops from beneath Len's feet and he starts to fall, his first thought is that Flash will catch him.

28 - Forgotten  
Barry forgot about his stolen wallet, but two months after he'd started work at the Keystone Saloon, Len slapped the piece of leather down on the bar in front of him "So, you're a cop?" he'd said, to which Barry only had one reply, "Not any more."

29 - Dance  
It should annoy him, how much the Flash can follow his motions in battle, almost like a dance, no matter how Len tries to trip him up; it comes in handy later, when the two have to team up against a bigger enemy, and Len follows Flash's lead with surprising ease.

30 - Body (relates to _19 - Candle_)  
Len doesn't stop digging through the ash and charred stone that makes up the building Flash was last seen in, any lingering embers get blasted with ice as Len gets deeper and deeper; he's not going to stop until he's seen the body (he _knows_ what superheroes are like), he's not going to stop until he knows what happened to his (_friend_) favourite bartender.

31 - Sacred  
They each have things that are off-limits, Len doesn't like hurting kids and goes out of his way to avoid it, and Barry refuses to use anything he learns off Len that doesn't directly have anything to do with superhero stuff while he's in the cowl.

32 - Farewells  
Barry visits his grave (it's creepy seeing your own name on a headstone when you're plainly still alive), he doesn't hang around long, but says his farewells to his previous lifestyle then heads back to Keystone before anyone notices that he's not dead; it helps somewhat and he'll have to remember to thank Len for giving him the idea (Len had spoken about tossing out his old costume to help reinforce that he can't go back).

33 - World  
Len knows the Flash has a duty to the _world_, not just the Gem Cities; still, he can't help feeling resentful when he sees Flash on TV on the other side of the world fighting some other villain.

34 - Formal  
Seeing Len _not_ in Captain Cold blue or Iron Heights orange was bizarre, but not uncommon, seeing him in in formal-wear was surreal on a whole new level; Barry made a point of letting Flash have a run around any fancy parties later that night when he saw the latter.

35 - Fever  
Neither of them really got sick anymore (Barry's metabolism worked too fast and Len's cold-field kept most germs out), but when it happened they got hit _hard_; Barry found that having a friend who was a living ice-pack was a godsend when he got a fever, however, it meant that Barry had no idea how to help Len when the other man collapsed in the bar and his powers started going haywire (Barry only hoped that no one noticed that he was the only one able to get close enough to Len to move him without freezing up).

36 - Laugh  
Len's had a bit much to drink and Al's coming off a long shift, overtired, when one of them says something that doesn't even qualify as a poor joke, yet they both collapse into hysterical laughter, Charles comes to yell at Len later for drunkenly icing the bartop, but it was worth it to see Al actually enjoying himself for once.

37 - Lies  
Any time Len actually gives Barry a halfway genuine smile or starts talking quietly to him about things that sound private, Barry can't help the stab of guilt that he's _lying_; 'Al' the bartender keeps smiling, but it's all a lie.

38 - Forever  
It's forever, being the Flash – even if he's not that particular scarlet speedster, Barry still has to run for as long as he can – and it's oddly relieving to realise that Len's going to keep trying to stop him for just as long.

39 - Overwhelmed  
As fast as Barry is and as good as his memory is, peak times at the bar can still get a little overwhelming; one particularly bad rush finds Barry hiding behind the bar, head in his hands and wondering if he should give it all up, when a cold hand finds his neck and chills his spine, releving tired muscles and keeping a headache at bay (Barry doesn't look up, but for the next twenty minutes the icy hand stays there solidly).

40 - Whisper  
"Want to say that a little louder? I don't think they heard you in Canada," Barry whispered to Len as they tried to hide from the giant killer robot down a side alley.

41 - Wait  
Barry ducks (possibly a little too fast) behind the bar and prays that Patty didn't notice him, he waits until she gets sick of Len's heavy (and terrible) flirting and leaves; "Ex-girlfriend?" Len asks when Barry emerges from the glasses and bottles, "Not half bad."

42 - Talk (relates to _17 - Promise_)  
"We need to talk," Barry says, it probably would've helped if he hadn't yanked Len halfway across town to an empty rooftop, but it had to be done, he couldn't stop moving once his cowl was ripped off or _everyone_ would know who the Flash really was.

43 - Search  
When news reaches Len about Zoom being murdered he doesn't have to look long before finding Al with his knees pulled up to his chest behind the empty bar; Len doesn't say anything – what comfort on murder can you get from a _villain_ – but after a hour or two has gone by, Len wonders if he's the only person who knows since he was the only one searching.

44 - Hope  
"You're not gonna give up now are you? I'm not letting that _thing_ take over my cities, and if I'm fighting it, you're sure as hell not gonna just watch," Barry takes the offered icy hand and feels his second (_fifth_) wind kick in, along with the stirrings of hope that his current ally might be persuaded into more of the same at a later date.

45 - Eclipse  
When the sun came back in full force, somehow Len knew it had been Flash who'd sorted things out this time.

46 - Gravity (relates to _27 - Fall_)  
When Flash _does_ catch him – in a whirlwind of dust and discarded newspapers – Len (almost) wishes that gravity had kept working, because he hates being indebted to his enemy (plus Flash gets this funny frown on his face that Len can't decipher).

47 - Highway  
It takes nearly all of Flash's willpower not to laugh when his fight with Cold moves onto the highway out of Keystone City and they find, much to Cold's dismay, that the road's been gritted and won't ice over properly.

48 - Unknown  
Al's past was always something of a mystery, Len only knew little bits, that he'd had a girlfriend recently, that he was presumed dead; for some reason, Len had a feeling that the unknown parts would be a really bad thing to hear.

49 - Lock  
When Barry locked the bar door to start cleaning up he was surprised to see Len still there and, instead of leaving when asked, Len pressed a knife into Barry's hands and told him it was high time he learned how to fight _properly_.

50 - Breathe (relates to _19 - Candle _ and _30 - Body_)  
(_It's cold_) Barry flinches away from the light that suddenly appears in his face (_it's hard_), but with the help of icy hands, Barry breathes in clean air, coughing up the smoke that had gotten into his lungs "You're not dying like this," an ash-coated Len warns as he helps a battered Barry out of the rubble, "If you do I'm carving 'was a fucking bastard' on all your memorial statues."


End file.
